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RD: Lemons
Overview Marooned in Britain in 23 AD, the Dwarfers need an 8 volt battery to power up their Returner Remote and get home. Remembering a lesson from school Rimmer suggests they make a battery out of lemons but the nearest lemon to Britain in 23 AD is in India 4,000 miles away. They begin their journey, a journey that will ultimately lead them to a meeting with a historical A-List Celebrity that could alter the entire history of civilization. Summary Detailed summary of the episode Notes *Given that Kryten later uses wire from his finger in order to wire up the lemon battery, and both Rimmer and he are somehow able to stay powered for over six months in the wilderness, it is unclear why they can not use Kryten's power source or Rimmer's light bee to power the returner remote. *Rimmer states that his mother gave him the middle name Judas as she was a member of the Church of Judas. However, in "The Last Day" he stated that his parents were "Seventh Day Advent Hoppists", although that did seem to based on their own particular Bible and not their actual church's teachings. *Like several other instances of time travel in the series, the episode leaves questions about how come they can not use the inverted rejuvenation shower to return to Earth in their own time period. However, it is never shown that the shower can take them anywhere other than 23 A.D. *Kryten refers to the tongue of Albion as if it were synonymous for English, even though (the gradual evolution of languages over time aside) the root of the modern language is Germanic and the Britons of the time were actually Celtic; the character Erin even goes on to refer to various ancient Celtic gods - one of which would be very well known to any Asterix fan. Lister also refers to the Pictish custom of painting themselves with woad, even though the truth of this interpretation of Julius Caesar's writings is dubious. *Unlike in previous episodes such as "Backwards", "Out of Time" and "Back to Earth, Part Two", Kryten makes no attempt to hide his mechanoid appearance behind a costume, though Jesus takes his metal plating for gladiatorial armour; making Kryten stress that he too is in fact a man of peace. *The Dwarfers respond with some surprise that the name Jesus was so popular, even though it is still widely used today by Hispanic speakers, although it is pronounced as Hay-sus. Persons with that name are often called by the nickname Chuy. Noteworthy Dialogue *'Rimmer:' He’s got a skullet. Lister: A skull what? Rimmer: A bald mullet. A skullet. Bald at the front, mullet at the back. You wouldn’t want to go out in public with this guy. *'Cat:' With just an Allen key and a Phillips screwdriver, assembly should take less than three hours. Rimmer: That’s Swedish for a week. *'Erin:' You walked across half the known world for EIGHT Lemons? *'Rimmer:' You’re him off the Bible, aren’t you? *'Jesus:' The only escape from our enemies is to turn and love them! Rimmer: Or run. Running's good too! *'Jesus:' It's as if I've smoked some bark from an acacia tree. Bad bark! Well bad bark! *'Kryten:' ''Mr. Jesus? He hath risen! *'Jesus:' Isin't that breaking the Sixth Commandment? Thou shalt not kill? Erin: That's not killing, that's genocide. I think that's okay. Background Information Any behind the scenes information or any other information that doesn't fit in the other categories. Reception The episdoe received a largely positive reception from the mainstream press, although it did have a somewhat polarizing effect on the fan community. The episode was generally praised for it's intelligent delivery and the obvious chemistry between the main cast, although some criticized it's alleged repetitiveness and the reuse of old concepts. James Baxter's portayal of Jesus was also meet to a mixed reception, and the very nature of the episode assured that it would always be somewhat controversial. Guest Stars *Indira Joshi as Erin *James Baxter as Jesus (of Caesarea) *Nicholas Richards as Uncle Aaron *Tom Paper as "Man Who May Be Jesus & Judas" *Hormuzd Todiwala as Waiter References *The Cat's makeshift golf game reflects the stupid time-wasting games Lister bemoans in the opening of the Series III episode "Timeslides", and the use (or rather misuse) of medical equipment is similar to what Lister uses to cook in the opener of "Polymorph". It should also be noted that this episode opens with Lister cooking as well, and reputably when originally filmed it also featured him singing "Lunar City Seven". *The music that plays as the Dwarfers build their Rejuvenation Shower is the same music that plays when Kryten is following Rimmer's cleaning orders in the Series II episode "Kryten", which is one of many musical homages to earlier series shown throughout the episode, including Series I-style interstitial cues and a "D.N.A." style Indian remix of the Red Dwarf theme. *The idea of a technology that is meant to affect an isolated object being turned outward to affect the larger area is the same premise as what happens with the triplicator in the Series V episode "Demons & Angels". *Unsurprisingly, there are parallels to the earlier time travelling story "Tikka to Ride" in terms of accidentally changing history. Although this is kind of subverted by Jesus of Caesarea not actually being Jesus of Nazareth, unlike in "Tikka" where they actually meet John F. Kennedy. It also involves the consumption of a roasted human body part, although in this case it was Lister's spleen eaten by the Cat rather than the man (in the extended version of that episode, he is revealed to be Eric White) found on the streets of Dallas in an alternate 1966 by both Lister and the Cat. *Jesus' utter distaste for the acts of violence done in his name is exactly how Lister felt when he learned he was the cat god Cloister in the Series I episode "Waiting for God", with both episodes being similar in tone with regards to religion; Jesus' postulation that the Ten Commandments were made to "keep a primitive people in check" is also similar to the reasoning behind Silicon Heaven. * Equally, the episode is also similar to Monty Python's Life of Brian in terms of setting and an unwilling prophet who comes to realize that people are just blindly following the words of others and should learn to think for themselves. *The handling of famous historical characters is very similar to the style of humour used on the Series IV episode "Meltdown". *In what seems to be a running tradition for the show, Jesus responds to the absurdity of his situation by thinking that he is on a hallucinogen (smoked acacia bark), just like past Rimmer does in "Stasis Leak" and Craig Charles does in "Back to Earth, Part Three". *Just like in "The Last Day", "Legion" and several episodes in Series VIII, mention is made of Kryten not having genitalia and how that perhaps alters his perceptions of certain actions somewhat, in this case with regards to medical urethra probing. *The episode contains a great deal of continuity with the previous episode, in that they are still out of anaesthetic and Lister is still working on his robotics course. External Links *Episode Trailer Category:Series X Episodes Category:Episodes